High Tide
by mysticxf
Summary: Even the light days aren't so light.


Lost and its characters belong to JJ Abrams, Bad Robot and the Others. Even the light days aren't so light.

Lost – High Tide

By Mystic

September 13th 2006

"Water goes out, carries the sand with it, and you sink."

The cold water lapped up at her ankles and she watched the sand mingle with it, rolling back out to sea. Kate laughed, the high pitched giggle of a five year old who pulled her feet loose at the idea of being sucked under. "Oh no! It's gonna eat me up!" she shouted at her mother, running several feet away before stopping to wait for her to catch up. Her mother grinned, her own feet slapping against the wet sand as she made her way across it to her daughter.

"Katherine," Diane called out when the girl's speed exceeded her own. "Come back here."

"Nope," Kate called back. "Gotta keep running or the sand'll suck me down." But she stopped anyways, watching her mother raise an eyebrow curiously, the look she often got as a warning that she'd taken the fun too far.

"Come on back," her mother repeated, her hands finding comfortable spots on her waist as Kate skipped back, splashing her bare feet through the waves that crested gently against the shore. It soaked the edges of her jean shorts and spotted her grey tank top.

Standing in front of her mother, Kate looked up, seeing nothing more than a dark silhouette against the bright sky and she smiled as her mother shook her head. "Why would you wanna sink anyway, momma?"

They made their way back to the spot where the waters touched the beach and stood there, side by side. Kate watched her mother's eyes glaze over as she stared out into the ocean and she followed her gaze. She watched the seagulls dive into the ocean, coming back up with fish flapping in their beaks. Her father told her they had excellent vision, that they could see a single fish from a hundred feet above the waves.

"Mom?" Kate asked, turning her attention back to her mother as the third wave hugged her ankles.

"Sometimes you just need to stand still and sink a little," she said, her voice barely a whisper on the breeze.

She didn't like standing still. Kate had too much energy inside to stand still. She took in a long breath and held it, feeling the grains of sand run along the sides of her feet, tickling her. Then an idea occurred to her and she turned sharply. "But, if you sink too much, won't you get stuck? Daddy says the quick sand in the desert, if you don't get out of it, you drown in it."

There was a moment when her mother contemplated the thought, when she took it in and something deeper passed across her face that Kate didn't catch. Then she touched her daughter's head and she smiled. "You'll never get stuck, you got too much spirit in you."

Kate grinned, not quite understanding, but knowing she'd never stand still long enough to get stuck. She glared down at her feet, seeing the sand had devoured her toes and she wondered how long she could or how high the sand would get. Could she sink up to her neck?

She looked up at her mother wondering what was going on in her head. Did she miss Daddy? He was on a base only a few miles away, it was why they were there, but he was busy all day with work and tired all night from work. He was talking about moving to another base soon, going overseas again. Kate crossed her arms over her chest, holding tight to her bony elbows and she sighed, loose hairs from her ragged ponytail playing lightly across her face as the winds changed.

She tried to remember the last time she'd seen her mother and father laugh together. They always seemed so busy, sometimes too busy for her. Back in Iowa she could climb up a tree, or chase the neighbor's dog, or find Tom and jump on his back and they'd go down into town and get sodas and ice cream. Here there were rules that kept her in one place. Here she had to keep her room clean and wipe her shoes at the door and salute soldiers.

She didn't have to, but her father expected her to, so she did.

Her mother spent most of the day cleaning and staring out windows. She smiled, but Kate always thought she looked lost. She glanced up at her, putting a hand to her brow to block the sun and she saw the tears that welled in her mother's eyes.

She'd seen her mother cry, more than she liked to admit. Sometimes she thought she made her mother cry, when they went into town and ran into that guy with the cowboy boots who always touched her head and called her Freckles while tugging her ponytail hard. He always laughed at the way she scowled up at him.

She hated him.

But her mother smiled at him, touched his chest and they talked in hushed tones while Kate circled the produce rubbing at her nose trying to erase the freckles spreading there. Her mother liked this guy.

Kate saw her kiss him once, in secret, when her mother said she'd be in the bathroom at the market. Afterwards, Kate hid inside the stock room for an hour listening to her name being called out over the intercom. When they found her, her mother spanked her in front of everyone – even the guy with the cowboy boots – and they went home. That's when her mother always cried.

"Did you get stuck?" She asked, something inside her clicking.

Her mother gasped lightly and turned, "What do you mean, honey?"

"With Daddy and me, did you get stuck?"

"Katherine!" She exclaimed. "Where would you get an idea like that?"

Metaphors, she'd learned them from the books in the library. She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders and tugged her feet out of the sand to start the sinking process again. Bowing her head, Kate felt her mother kneel in the sand next to her and take her shoulders, turning her and she touched her chin, raising her head to look her in the eye.

"I love you and your daddy," she told her sternly.

Kate nodded, but it didn't stop her lip from trembling or her heart from feeling like it was a lie. She bit down on her bottom lip hard as her mother hugged her tightly. She smelled the wood floors from their home at the army base and the light Jasmine fragrance her mother wore and she closed her eyes, letting her mother pick her up off the ground to start back towards the car. Kate wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and planted a kiss there, laying her head on her shoulder. "I love you too, mommy."

Finis


End file.
